iPod nano Dissected [Archive]

MacBytes

Sep 8, 2005, 05:56 PM

http://www.macbytes.com/images/bytessig.gif (http://www.macbytes.com)

Category: Apple Hardware
Link: iPod nano Dissected (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050908165657)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)
Approved by Mudbug

iindigo

Sep 8, 2005, 05:59 PM

Wow, so there actually is a lot packed into that little guy... Nice design.

tangerineyum

Sep 8, 2005, 06:53 PM

yes, how can anyone not be impressed by the engineering behind this.

dizastor

Sep 8, 2005, 07:15 PM

wow, even though the firewire cable will connect to it you get an error message.

totally bogus.

but i still want one...

AoWolf

Sep 8, 2005, 07:56 PM

wow, even though the firewire cable will connect to it you get an error message.

totally bogus.

but i still want one...

Yeah that kind of sucks. Its sad seeing one cut taken apart.

nagromme

Sep 8, 2005, 08:51 PM

Looks like there's room on the daughtercard for a bigger/second flash chip someday :)

SPUY767

Sep 8, 2005, 11:40 PM

About the nano, is that since it's flash based, even though the advertised battery life is less than that of the full-size iPods, almost 100% of the time battery life will be better than a regular iPod. The only way to get the full battery life of an HD based player, you have to let songs play without skipping tracks, because skipping has an adverse effect on battery life due to the nature of a hard drive. With flash, the detriment of skipping is negligible.

SiliconAddict

Sep 9, 2005, 01:14 AM

This just proves that the design of the nano really isn’t all that complicated. 90% of those parts are pretty much common place. Apple’s strength is not in the guts of the products it designs but the form. Pity they couldn’t really push that form into something truly revolutionary. Yes I’m still a bit bitter that its the same design only smaller. Give me a week and I’ll cope. :p

Lacero

Sep 9, 2005, 01:18 AM

Pity they couldn’t really push that form into something truly revolutionary.So true. I was hoping for a BlueTooth enabled "iPod patch" you adhere to your clothes or skin and control the iPod with mind waves.

I think the iPod nano is an amazing feat of engineering. Apple pulled a coup for the holiday season all other MP3 makers are trying to scramble. They won't be successful. Jobs is giddy like a little school girl right about now.

24C

Sep 9, 2005, 04:44 AM

Looks like there's room on the daughtercard for a bigger/second flash chip someday :)
Yep. I saw that and thought the same, especially when I saw the screws at the side of the board...at first I thought that's how they shift the capacity of the two models, but maybe it allows them to be more flexible with OEM suppliers in the future?
Either way it's a neat design in terms of iPod evolution, especially the size reduction, but not sure about the increased cost over the mini.

sjk

Sep 9, 2005, 05:35 AM

..., but not sure about the increased cost over the mini.Yeah, though where else can you buy 4GB flash memory for $250 right now?

saurus

Sep 9, 2005, 10:49 AM

nagromme

Sep 9, 2005, 04:16 PM

skipping has an adverse effect on battery life due to the nature of a hard drive. With flash, the detriment of skipping is negligible.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that. I'm a big skipper!

This just proves that the design of the nano really isn’t all that complicated. 90% of those parts are pretty much common place. Apple’s strength is not in the guts of the products it designs but the form.
Or, their strength is in making something so elegant that is SEEMS easy and obvious in hindsight.

Josh

Sep 12, 2005, 10:29 AM

Anyone else notice that this iPod has battery wires soldered to the mobo? I hope that the battery now has a plug on it or else this is going to hinder changing the battery down the road...

Hard to tell from the photos, but the battery was never removed from any of the pictures... You can see the Mini had a plug on it...

Yeah I noticed this too. Seems the battery is soldered on and can never be removed.

Hopefully this is not so that if your battery goes dead, gets old, you have to get a new nano. I will not buy one if that's the case.

shamino

Sep 12, 2005, 02:02 PM

Hopefully this is not so that if your battery goes dead, gets old, you have to get a new nano. I will not buy one if that's the case.
I'll reserved judgement until I hear about the longevity.

If the battery lasts 5-7 years (what you'd expect for the overall lifetime of the device), then it won't matter all that much.

Of course, we won't know for 5-7 years (unless the batteries suffer from the same fiasco as the 3G iPod batteries.)